Melbourne Sandbelt

The Melbourne Sandbelt is a rough triangle extending from Brighton south along the coast of Port Phillip Bay to Frankston and to the east as far as Heatherton, Clayton and Oakleigh.

Much of Melbourne’s eastern suburbs are covered by heavy clay subsoil. Around 20 million years ago, lower lying areas were flooded, which deposited sandstone material, now known as the Brighton Group.[1] [2] [3] [4] The Sandbelt suburbs are built on remnant sand dunes from this time.[5] The sand can reach a depth of 80 metres in some places.[6] Further east and north, the clay remains, and this region is sometimes referred to as the Clay Belt by contrast to the Sandbelt.

The surface soils across the Sandbelt today are the result of the geology, topography, marine currents, climate and vegetation. The present day coastal dune systems were formed in the last 6000 years by wave action depositing sand and silts from the bay onto its beaches. The most prominent dune systems are between Mordialloc and Frankston. This formed a coastal barrrier, behind which occurs the Carrum-Carrum Swamp in a section of the Port-Phillip sunkland.

As Melbourne's extensive suburbs grew, much of the Sandbelt's remnant vegetation was destroyed. Currently, there are few locations where the vegetation has been preserved. However, revegetation efforts by local concils are ongoing, and seek to return the land back to the remnant vegetation (prior to European settlement). To help achieve this, various vegetation communities have been identified.[7]

The following table presents the different vegetation communities of the Sandbelt, along with a list of associated species.

Vegetation communities of the Sandbelt

	Primary Dune Vegetation	Coastal Scrub	Wetlands	Heathy Woodlands
Vegetation community and soil proprties	Example location: Carrum Beach Soil: Wind blown sands on beach dunes, normally with high pH.	Example location: Mentone Beach Soil: Coastal sand dunes and sandstone bluff, inland of primary dune vegetation.	Example location: Braeside Park, Braeside Soil: Variable, usually heavy, clayey soils, relatively high in nutrients with permanently and seasonally inundated areas.	Example location: Bradshaw Bushland Reserve, Mordialloc. Soil: Deep free-draining, nutrient poor sands on crests and slopes of undulating sand hills and ridges, usually slightly acidic.
Ground layer	Poa poiformis Spinifex sericeus Actites meglocarpa Apium prostratum Austrostipa stipoides Carex pumila Carpobrotus rossii Lepidosperma gladiatum Ficinia nodosa Imperata cylindrica Acaena ovina Galenia pubescens Dianella brevicaulis Senecio pinnatifolia Zoysia macrantha	Dichondra repens Lepidosperma gladiatum Acaena novae-zelandiae Acaena ovina Austrodanthonia geniculata Austrostipa flavescens Austrostipa mollis Carpobrotus rossii Carpobrotus edulis Chrysocephalum apiculatum Dianella brevicaulis Ficinia nodosa Geranium potentilloides Lepidosperma concavum Lomandra longifolia Microlaena stipoides Pelargonium australe Senecio pinnatifolius	Azolla filiculoides Agrostis avenacea Eleocharis acuta Poa labillardieri Alisma plantago-aquatica Beaumea articulata Beaumea juneca Beaumea tetragona Bolboschoenus medianus Carex appressa Carex gaudichaudiana Centella cordifolia Isolepis inundata Lemna disperma Persicaria decipens Phragmites australis Potamogeton pectinatus Potamogeton tricarinatus Triglochin procerum Ottelia ovalifolia	Dianella revoluta Goodenia geniculata Kennedia prostrata Lagenophera stipitata Laxmannia orientalis Lomandra longifolia Lomandra filiformis Opercularia varia Patersonia fragilis Thelionema caespitosum Thysanotus patersonii Trachymene composita
Climbers	Tetragonia implexicoma	Clematis microphylla Muehlenbeckia adpressa	Cassytha pubescens	Clematis microphylla Comesperma volubile
Shrubs	Atriplex cinerea Leucophyta brownii Alyxia buxifolia Rhagodia candolleana	Acacia longifolia Leptospermum laevigatum Bursaria spinosa Goodenia ovata Rhagodia candolleana Leucopogon parviflorus Myoporum insulare Alyxia buxifolia Correa alba Lasiopetalum baueri Olearia ramulosa Ozothamamus turbinatus Pomaderris paniculosa	Typha domingensis Typha procerum Gahnia sieberiana	Acacia paradoxa Bossiaea cinerea Dillwynia sericea Epacris impressa Hakea ulicina Hibbertia acicularis Hibbertia sericea Isopogon ceratophyllus Leptospermum continentale Leucopogon ericoides Leucopogon virgatus Olearia ramulosa Persoonia juniperinum Platylobium obtusangulum
Trees	None	Allocasuarina verticillata Banksia integrifolia	Melaleuca ericifolia	Eucalyptus viminalis ssp. pryoriana Eucalyptus cephalocarpa Eucalyptus radiata Acacia implexa Allocasuarina littoralis Exocarpus cupressiformis

Sand mining has been conducted in the Sandbelt region since the 1880s.[8] Several former sand mining sites have been used for landfill waste disposal once mining ceased.[9]

Sandy soil is particularly suitable for golf courses. It is easy to place bunkers wherever a course designer chooses, without the need to carry in sand from another location, and it is easy to ensure appropriate drainage. A feature of several Melbourne Sandbelt courses is that bunkers are cut right on the edge of a green, which is not possible in other courses with different soil types.

There are several major championship courses in the Melbourne Sandbelt which are regularly listed among the world's best. Notable courses include Royal Melbourne Golf Club, Victoria Golf Club, Kingston Heath Golf Club, Huntingdale Golf Club, and Metropolitan Golf Club. Royal Melbourne and Kingston Heath both feature in the Golf Digest top 20 courses in the world.[10]

• Melbourne Sandbelt Golf Map
• The Melbourne Sandbelt - Classic Golf - an association of major courses
• Interview with Paul Daley and David Scaletti, authors of The Sandbelt – Melbourne’s Golfing Heaven ISBN 095802250X.
• Musician Lloyd Cole's account of playing the Sandbelt courses, which won the Australian Golf Writer's Best Feature of the Year Award in 2009.